SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Leading UK digital challenger banks Monzo and Starling Bank have added ‘gambling block’ components to their mobile banking apps, allowing for their customers to stop engaging in transactions with gambling/betting services.
Considered two of the UK’s fastest growing fintech firms, Monzo and Starling seek to revolutionise retail banking, disrupting traditional current account functions and transactions through their mobile-first platforms.
Launched with their latest app updates, the fintech incumbents detail that they are not ‘anti-gambling’ advocates, but that they simply seek to support their customers with better safeguards on spending.
Once activated, the gambling blocks will prevent users from engaging with online and highstreet betting/gambling verticals for a period of 48 hours.
Unlike traditional banking services, Monzo and Starling Bank’s gambling block can be immediately activated at the behest of the user, without the desired action being verified or processed by bank customer service teams.
Publishing its latest crowdfunding prospectus, fast-growth Monzo a digital challenger bank that has secured 1 million customers since its 2017, details that any new component its develops is focused on the ethos of treating its customers as individuals rather than business segments.
Monzo and Starling’s gambling block functions have been praised by UK charity Money & Mental Health, which has called for UK financial services incumbents to follow the digital banks’ lead.
The charity has called on UK highstreet banks to improve safeguards on monitoring and controlling spending, as poor mental health can lead to impulsive behaviour with regards to money management.
